Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking

An Alternative to Artificial Intelligence

As I find myself relying on the internet for more information as time passes, I realize there is a danger in losing a skill that has served me well in the last 70 years: Critical Thinking. We have all heard stories about foreign countries creating bots and content to skew a narrative about politics or steal your identity. My ability to discern facts from bullshit and credibility from fantasy or conspiracy theories is essential to turning information into knowledge and knowledge into wisdom.

Our reptilian brain is wired to derive a flight or fight response from an external source. There is little critical evaluation in that evolutionary magic. Our more advanced centers of the brain are responsible for logic and reasoning; however, this is slower and not exactly automatic. Critical evaluation of our surroundings and the information available is a skill that develops over time. Skills need to be exercised regularly, or we lose the ability to wield them.

So much of our world is stacked against our efforts to exercise the skill of critical thinking, and we don’t always recognize its encroachment. Advertising is one of the main offenders; it is purely persuasive. Its sole objective is to get you to act on the trust of the advertiser. Be it political advertising, drug advertising, or the repeated drumming of any number of mind numbing efforts to get you to plunk down your hard earned cash to buy their products. Let’s not get started with big tech algorithms that hoover up our data only to profile us and feed us more targeted advertising bullshit.

In the late 70s, I had the opportunity to travel through Geneva, Switzerland, to the south of France. Coming from America, I was struck by the lack of advertising, which turned the environment into an attack on my senses. I have not had the opportunity to return, but I am told it is not the same. Advertising is like a virus that invades the body and diminishes its vitality.

My ability to push back against the onslaught is central to maintaining a peace of mind that preserves my human integrity. Critical thinking is central to that pushback.

Shortly after noon on November 22, 1963, I was ten years old when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas. As my teachers and parents wept, I wanted to know why and who? As the years go by, more of what happened comes to light. Our government is actively withholding information that may further clarify the truth of the matter. It has been said that hindsight is 20 20; as time passes, it becomes harder to maintain false narratives. Not all the conspirators can be paid off or eliminated, and the truth leaks.

Over time, conspiracy theories morph into facts. The sun does not actually revolve around the flat earth. Science, physics, astronomy, and the discipline of fact-finding are not totally immune to misinformation. However, time also acts as a refining force to widely accepted realities. I find comfort in basic principles like Thermodynamics, light speed, and space-time.

There came a time when honesty and truth were a matter of life and death for me. My abuse of alcohol reached critical stages, and I was confronted with a decision. Accept that I cannot drink alcohol and lead anything like a sane life or continue drinking and end up dead. I chose life. Maintaining that decision requires that I do not delude myself into thinking that alcohol is not poison in my body. Denial of the historical facts that led me to choose life in the face of death is an ever-present danger. Critical thinking is a skill I need to sharpen regularly to stay alive. This same thinking skill has helped me with many other situations but has also had its downside.

As a young boy, I exhibited dyslexic tendencies, which has also been called the MIT disease because so many at this institution exhibit these tendencies. It is not dysfunction just a different brain structure. The longer distance between the parts of the brain called axons means that people with dyslexia can take up to five times longer to translate what they see into words. On the upside, the same brain structure makes them better able to look at situations or scenes and notice and build patterns of meaning.

In school, to the great dislike of my teachers, I was always asking questions about the larger patterns. Education wanted me to memorize the “lesson” and regurgitate it back, Boreing! Without knowing it, I embarked on a lifetime of discovery, questioning nuance, pushing back against the logic of my tin foil hat friends, and reserving trust in a tiny circle of people I could look in the eye.

With Rigorous honesty and a thirst for discovering new truths I started on a mission, I was not even fully aware of. It became apparent quickly that I did not aspire to be “the smartest guy in the room.” Humility, honesty, and an open mind were the tools that I used to build a consulting business that helped me prosper in business for over 25 years. Clients would hire me as an expert but appreciated my skills in listening and questioning more than any expertise I brought to the table.

Critical thinking is a lifeline in a world pushing us toward compliance of mind and conformity. Whether you also find comfort in unassailable truths like gravity, fire, and math or enjoy a life of discovery over “and now a word from our sponsor.” Critical thinking is your compass guiding a life well lived.

Don’t take my word for it; try it yourself. Your results may differ from mine, but take heart in that we are all unique, and they should be different.